Toriko: Canon Storyline. Chapter 3: Poison Trainin

Mathew sat in an early train, it was still dark outside, to a location of great food. And it would be some great training as well. when he had heard the news, he had been with Suramo, whom he had asked for some training so his body would be more capable of handling greater challenges. And as such, Suramo had told him to head to these caves, before giving him a small list of ingredients which he had to acquire. Mathew looked at the list against as he had a sip of sake.

Giant Millipede, capture level 1. Devil Python, variable capture level. scorpion roach, capture level 7. Swallowtail bat, capture level 2. Poisonous puffer whale, capture level 29. Mathew was going to these caves to build up his poison resistance. The giant millipede wasn’t poisonous but it released a terrible stench when it was attacked. Scorpion roaches were disgusting, but their poison would boost his resistance factor. The devil python was very deadly, both in power and in poison, but was also very delicious, especially the ones that lived in caves. The swallowtail bat wasn’t eatable, but its scales could be made into a seasoning. And the puffer whale had its poison sack. It was very potent poison, so he had to carefully input the dose once he captured one. And with all the eating he’d do, his gourmet cells should evolve and build up his resistance some more.

as the train stopped at its final location, Mathew grabbed all the food left on the table, as well as a bottle of sake and got out of the train. From the station he walked out of town and toward the coastline, where the cave systems were. He ate some of the burgers he had grabbed while walking. His body needed to be charged and ready for when he went in there. Other hunters were also here, but so were some of the poachers that were ready to steal what the actual hunters were going to get.

Mathew finished his food and sake, putting the bottle in his backpack and he walked into the dark cave. His eyes were sharper than a normal person, so he could see pretty well. along with his animalistic sense of smell, as well as his hearing, he could orient himself pretty well in these caves. As he walked in, he saw some snap mushrooms and picked some, giving his thanks for the food before eating it. a nice sweet and crunchy snack to get started. He put some more in his backpack, for later.

as he walked deeper into the cave, he knew it was time to let this hunt begin in earnest. He took a long deep breath, relaxed, before walking further, growing his black nails out long and sharp, smelling the air, detecting something stinky. And as Mathew turned the corner, he encountered a giant millipede. As it saw Mathew, it crawled to him quickly. Mathew sighed, not liking the scent it sprayed into his nose. He quickly struck with his right claw, hitting five different knocking points. He gave the beast’s neck a twist, before stuffing it into a bag he carried and walking on.

as he did, he heard a strange three step walk close by. As he looked, he saw a young man walking by him. he was, by far, the strangest person he had ever seen. He had silver neck length hair, scars over his closed eyes, scars coming from the place where his ears should be and he had scars on his throat, where the vocal cords should be. The man held a blind man’s walking stick. He wore a blue jacket with a yellow green eye near both shoulders, an ear located below the eye and a tongue bellow that. he wore purple pants, and black boots. the man was blind, deaf and couldn’t speak, yet there was confidence in his walk.

the man stopped walking and turned his face to Mathew as he did. Suddenly a voice sounded, without anyone else being near either of them, “can I help you sir?” Mathew looked around, than back at the man who had now fully turned to him, ‘did you,…?’ the young man nodded and the voice sounded again, “yes, I’m the one who asked that. is something wrong?” Mathew shook his head, now realizing this voice hadn’t so much sounded, or that he had heard it with his ears. It felt like this voice was coming from inside himself. The man nodded again, “that’s correct. My voice connects to the people I’m talking too. My name is Seto. Nice to meet you.”

Mathew nodded, ‘likewise. But, your scars, you’re blind, deaf, you can’t speak. How do you know where I am? How do you know what I’m saying? How do you talk without an actual voice?’ the man opened his mouth and seemed to be laughing, but he produced no sound. It seemed a bit creepy. Seto replied, “like you Mathew, I too have gourmet cells. As a hunter you should know, take away one sense, the others become stronger. I have no sight, no hearing, nor do I have a voice that comes from my throat. My touch on the other hand is greatly enhanced. And through my gourmet cells even more, to the point where my touch can reach someone else’s soul. And through this ‘soul touch’ I can communicate with someone. I can take in what someone else is saying and I even have a sort of echo/touch sight, through which I know what someone looks like. This way, I can find my way pretty much anywhere.”

Mathew nodded, ‘that’s impressive Seto. I’m guessing you’re here for the puffer whales as well. since Coco of the heavenly kings predicted when and where they would surface, I came as quickly as I could. I’m guessing your restaurant wants some whales too.’ Seto nodded with a smile, “your nose is impressive, deducing that I’m a chef.” Mathew shrugged as he started walking again. Seto followed him as Mathew said, ‘it’s not just that I smell ingredients on you, I also smell you carry some ingredients in your backpack, as well as spices. And I can see that small kitchen knife in your pocket.’ Seto nodded, ‘you’re correct. I’m indeed a chef. I’m the head chef in fact at the golden duck restaurant in gourmet town. I believe you’ve hunted for us once.”

Mathew remembered the time he went after a devil crocodile for that ten star restaurant. It had been a great battle and he had gotten some good eating out of it as well. the two walked together and Mathew told Seto of his ingredients to gather list. Seto, not being in a hurry to capture some puffer whales, listened to what Mathew needed to capture and, through his touch, searched ahead, finding a group of swallowtail bats hanging on the ceiling of the cave a level below where they were.

Mathew followed Seto to the lower floor and found the bats just like Seto had said. Mathew jumped up, waking and scaring them, before unleashing his tiger claws on them, taking out ten of them at the same time. He caught them in his bag before landing. The other bats flew away. but just as the two started walking again, the bats came flying back, passed them by and flew away. Seto grimaced, “okay, brace yourself. A devil python is headed this way and it’s rather big. Normal ones are of capture level 21. This one on the other hand, I’d guess is around 30.” Mathew nodded, smelled the snake’s scent coming closer, heard its coils as it crawled toward them and saw the large beast come into view.

it was indeed enormous compared to other variations Mathew had seen of this snake. He had faced a capture level 15 child devil python. This one held twice that capture level. this would be a good fight and hold some good eating as a reward. Plus this snake’s poison to enhance his poison resistance system. Seto lifted up his walking stick, holding it like a sword in one hand, while drawing his kitchen knife with his right hand. It was rather short, but also well cared for. Mathew stepped out of his wooden clogs, grew the nails of his toes into claws as well and took a fighting pose, before releasing his intimidation.

the large white demon with its black face, neck and claws roared against the snake and the skulls on its wings roared along with it. Seto also released an intimidation. He made no sound, but that didn’t make the demon he showed any less intimidating. It was a buff grey creature with large ears, one seven colored eye, a large mouth filled with lots of teeth and an enormous tongue, while six horns sprung out around the eyes. The snake hissed and roared against them, not backing away, but also not carelessly attacking. It sensed the fighting potential in both opponents, knowing it couldn’t underestimate them. that being said, it didn’t fear them either.

the snake grew extra arms and launched three arms at each of the two men.  Mathew dashed forward, slashing both his claws at the incoming arms, cutting them off, jumped at the snake and delivered a quick three spin drill punch, driving it back. Seto had dodged the three arms that had come after him, knocking the aside with both his staff and air that seemed to both be drawn to the staff and clung to it. the snake slithered back slightly, straightened out, roared again before sending its main into a frenzy and shooting blasts of poison from each tip of hair, before spitting a blast of acid from its throat, capable of dissolving whatever it touched. as it did this, it regenerated the arms Mathew had cut off.

the hunter and the chef dodged the barrage of poison shots and acid blasts, which made Mathew wonder how Seto knew where to dodge. Could he calculate from his touch where the poison and acid were launched? Or was it something else? To answer that question, Seto replied, “through my touch, I can also touch the air and anything disturbing the air I can see as well.” Mathew nodded, dodged a new claw strike from the snake, grabbed its wrist and swung the snake of the ground and toward a wall. The snake caught itself and tossed Mathew against a wall.

as the Snake send out eight arms at Mathew, Seto stepped in between, spinning his staff around in circles. The air that followed it became a whirling wind shield that spread quickly, blocking all eight claws, before Seto slashed his knife at the snake, quickly cutting of the stretched out arms, all of them at three different places. Mathew got up, dodged an acid blast, rushed out of the way of three poison blasts and knew rushed the snake again, lashing out his tiger claws on the snake’s main body several times. He cut the snake two times. But after that each hit was blocked by the serpent flexing its scaly skin to make it tougher, to block his slash. But as it did so with the last of Mathew’s claw attacks, Mathew launched a dragon fang, piercing through the armor, though barely. And as he pulled back his left claw, he launched a quick 5 spin drill punch into the wound.

the python was send spinning and flying backwards in five spins that also twisted its insides. Seto jumped up to it, cutting of some of its hairs, before bashing his stick against its head, followed by a blast of wind hitting it, driving its head to the ground. Seto controlled wind and could use it as a weapon and a shield. Mathew dodged three back to back acid blasts, jumped over the places they had hit to dodge blasts of poison coming from the regenerated hairs and was ready to finish this fight. He activated an ability that ran in his family, which could be sensed and felt by the user in the stomach, which is where it was activated; beast mode. Mathew jumped forward, running on all fours. Beast mode doubled his strength temporarily and increased his speed four times. Mathew dashed forward and was at the snake before it could react. Mathew swung his tiger claw at the beast’s neck, cutting of its head. As Mathew landed, he deactivated beast mode. It always took quite a lot out of him.

Seto quickly cut the beast into equal pieces and, knowing Mathew was in it for the poison, let Mathew have the head of the snake. His restaurant would have some good use for this serpent meat. Mathew put the head and some pieces into large bags, carrying them on his back. Mathew looked at his list, two more ingredients remained. he was glad he still had some snap mushrooms with him and ate them to refill his stomach. He handed some to Seto as well, who happily ate them. the two continued and encountered a group of scorpion roaches as well.

Mathew prepared his right hand and used his tiger claw knocking on three, while Seto took out the other four. To Mathew’s surprise, Seto actually took two of the roaches, while Mathew only drained the poison from the beasts before leaving them. Seto explained, “under normal circumstances these beasts taste terrible. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be eaten. I like to experiment and have found a way to take away the foul taste. In the end it’s not actually delicious, but they’re not gross either. I’d like to experiment some more to see if I can make them taste better.”

Mathew nodded and the two now walked all the way to the sandy beach cave. Seto stuck his staff in the sand, pulled of his jacket and boots and walked into the water. Mathew took of his white jacket, pulled of his black jacket and walked into the water as well. the water was incredibly clear and a large flock of puffer whales had already gathered and was busy laying their eggs.

Seto slowly swam to the group, gently bend its head to one, before opening his mouth, making one air bubble and shooting it into the gill. As he did, Mathew heard him say, “air bubble knocking.” The fish than keeled over, having been knocked. Mathew relaxed and relied on something he had learned and mastered over his years as a hunter; nature flow. He let himself drift in the water, as if he was part of it. as the fish swam by him, they didn’t react to him. Mathew moved his hands slowly, having his claws out. As he reached two of the fish, Mathew used a delicate knocking form he had learned from Suramo, who in turn had learned it from knocking master Jirou. And Mathew had given his own touch to it: delicate; tiger claw knocking.

Mathew hit both mammals with one finger of his claw, gently knocking them. as they were knocked, he stuffed them into a net bag, before floating toward the next group. Seto did the same. Despite his appearance, he didn’t seem to be a threat to them. perhaps he touched their souls, telling them to stay calm.

both Mathew and Seto had to come up for air twice, before returning to the beach. In the end Mathew had managed to get his hands on eight whales. The first time he got three, the second time he got three and the third time he got two. These are the ones that weren’t poisoned. He had also gathered the poisoned ones, knowing the IGO could use these for their research. Sadly he had poisoned four of them. Seto had managed to get five and had poisoned only two. Seto smiled as he opened his backpack and pulled out his chef clothing before getting dressed, “having caught thirteen puffer whales, as well as some other creatures, I think we should be able to cook some of them and eat them, before leaving.” Mathew nodded. After everything that had happened, eating something now sounded like a good plan.

Mathew placed six of his puffer whales on a blanket and Seto one of his, before taking out his kitchen knife. Mathew watched him work. He was truly worthy of a ten star rank. And through his touch he knew where the poison sacks were located. As he cut open each puffer whale in a different way, Seto carefully took out the poison sacks. And with all six fishes freed from the risk of poison, they all turned shiny gold.

Seto nodded, “now, time to cook.” Mathew nodded and brought out some of the devil python meat, the giant millipede, the swallowtail bats and the last of his snap mushrooms. Seto brought out some spices and some cooking tools before preparing the six whales and the rest of the ingredients.

he cooked and melted the six tongues, turning them to oil, in which he baked the organs. He quickly dried the skin using the heat of the fire and his wind control. he slightly boiled the body meat before making it into sashimi and sushi, placing it over some paradise rice he had with him. he used the fins to make soup, as well as puffer whale fin sake. And, using some complex techniques, he also prepared the dried poison sack. He fried up the giant millipede and roasted the devil python, using the swallowtail bats as seasoning. He prepared the snap mushrooms by boiling them and putting them in the soup. And the scorpion roaches went into the soup as well after their meat had been prepared.

Mathew had extracted the poison from the poison sacks and from the devil python. Now he was slowly measuring the amounts of poison from each creature which he could inject into himself. If he went too far with even one of these poisons, he could be in serious pain at the least. At the most he would die. He started with the scorpion roaches, injecting their poison into his system, just as Seto finished cooking.

Mathew felt sick, but clapped his hands together, bowed and gave his humble thanks for the food. Mathew ate the sashimi with the backed organs, which were both filled with highly concentrated nutrients, which activated his gourmet cells, bulked him up and gave him the energy of ten men. The dried skin meat, which Seto had placed over the sushi, combined well with the body flavor and the rice and spices. This fish really suited Mathew’s taste. Having his body fully functioning and feeling fully restored, he went onto the next poison, of the devil python. He injected himself and felt a terrible headache and his body was in serious pain. He ate more of the fish, ate from the soup, ate the giant millipede which tasted like shrimp and ate the delicious meat of the python itself. His gourmet cells were awakened by him eating so much high class food. But what was more, not only was this food high class, it had been handled by an expert chef. Mathew enjoyed it thoroughly and his cells increased in power and multitude through his eating, increasing his poison resistance.

and finally, Mathew injected a tiny amount of the puffer whale into his system. For a moment, he felt like he was dying. But due to his active gourmet cells, he stayed awake enough to eat the next thing, the puffer whale’s poison sack, along with a sip of the puffer whale fin sake. His body felt warm and with the detoxified poison sack entering his stomach, antibodies were quickly produced. After they finished the entire feast, Mathew stood up, gathered the unprepared food that was left, strapped them to his back and was ready to leave. Seto had put on his normal clothing again, gathered up what he had caught and was prepared to leave as well.

but just as they started walking, an old men stepped into the cave. He had a large white pompadour hairstyle, seemed to miss some teeth, he hiccupped, held a bottle of booze and wore a jacket full of different knocking guns, while dragging a large pot behind him. he saw the other two hunters there, ‘well I’ll be, someone beat me to finding the puffer whales. I hope they taste good.’ Mathew nodded, ‘they certainly do sir. And there should still be some whales left, more than enough I’d say.’

Seto nodded and said, both the old man and Mathew could hear him, “I see you have a bottle with you. we still have some puffer whale fin sake left over. Would you like a sip?” the man’s smile grew into a serious grin, ‘of course, I never turn down an offer to drink some booze.’ He took out a small sake cup and Seto poured him a cup of sake. The man took a small sip of it, enjoying the flavor. Mathew chuckled, ‘in my opinion, the sake goes best with the sushi my friend Seto has made. I still have some left. have a taste.’ He handed the last bit of sushi to the man, who had a bite, followed by a sip, ‘oh, you’re right. This does taste wonderful together.’

as the two young men left the cave, they both wished the old man a good hunt. Knocking master Jirou looked at the two men, those two were the second pair of people today to share a drink and food with him today. He would remember their faces, in case they would ever need his help.

as Mathew and Seto exited the cave, Mathew grinned, seeing two old friends; Toriko and Coco, and the head chef of hotel gourmet; Komatsu. As he walked by them, he wished them a pleasant hunt and promised them if they succeeded, they would enjoy a great meal. Toriko, seeing both Mathew and Seto had some puffer whales and some other food with them, became even more inspired than before  to go get some of that fish.

as Mathew came home later that day, he shared some of the food he had gotten with Blitz, who also enjoyed the great flavors. And as the dragon ate, Mathew hung three new bags of poison in his special cellar, which was connected to another cellar. One held about 100 different kinds of poison, the other held ingredients that were compatible with Mathew’s gourmet cells. He injected himself with all these poisons once every two weeks, eating some of that food to make sure his body and gourmet cells would make some strong antibodies.